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Lyth relishing senior role

— 8 October 2019

Adam Lyth, once a wide eyed young whipper snapper inspired by watching county cricket on his home ground at Scarborough, has revealed how is now loving his role as an experienced head in the Yorkshire dressing room.

The prolific left-hander, recently awarded a testimonial year at Emerald Headingley in 2020, last month opened the batting with 17-year-old Academy prospect Matty Revis in the Specsavers County Championship clash with Kent.

Scoring runs and winning matches is Lyth’s primary role, but helping up and comers like Revis progress is not far behind when it comes to importance.

Aged 32, Lyth has scored more than 17,000 runs in his pro career since debuting in 2006, chiefly for Yorkshire but also for England, making seven Test appearances in the summer of 2015.

Lyth, a two-time Championship winner whose breakthrough year came in 2010 when he scored 1,509 Division One runs, has also spoken of just what playing for Yorkshire means to him.

“I used to go to the Scarborough festival with my mum and dad and watch the likes of (Martyn) Moxon and (Darren) Gough,” said the Whitby-born player, who learnt his trade playing his club cricket at North Marine Road.

“I always wanted to play for Yorkshire and pull on that shirt. Every time you pull the shirt on it’s an incredible feeling."

“I always wanted to play for Yorkshire and pull on that shirt.

“Every time you pull the shirt on it’s an incredible feeling.

“When you pull on the full rose you’re representing all those capped players before you and the history that goes with it.

“It really does mean a hell of a lot every day you go out on that field.

“I’ve got fond memories of being a young player, and it’s all about me transferring that, being an experienced pro and passing on the knowledge to these youngsters. It will be nice to continue to do that.

“There’s no way I’d have gotten the runs I got in 2010 if it wasn’t for the players like Anthony McGrath and Jacques Rudolph to help you while you’re out in the middle and in the nets.

“It’s massively important that me and Gary Ballance, being the senior batters in the squad, pass on as much knowledge as we can to the young lads.

“They do come and chat to us, and we do try and chat to them.

“It’s important they keep learning and transfer their skills to the middle.

“I was lucky enough to come into a team with experiences pros, and I opened the first time with Joe Sayers, a capped player at the time.

“We had McGrath and Rudolph, and only a few games later I was batting with Michael Vaughan. You’ve got to pinch yourself batting with the England captain.

“Matty Revis is 17, and it was nice to be out there with him making his debut. Hopefully in years to come he goes on and has a really good career.

“I’m sure he’s someone who looks up to the experienced players in the dressing room, and it would be nice for him to say one day, ‘I made my debut batting with Adam’.”

Lyth scored 804 Championship runs in the summer just finished, including seven fifties but no century.

He, alongside Gary Ballance and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, was amongst the top nine run-scorers in Division One.

He also scored 201 runs in the early season Royal London one-day Cup and 379 in the Vitality Blast, posting five fifties in the two competitions combined.

Lyth is hoping to return to play in the T10 League in the UAE for the second season running next month.